Logbook 2026-11-06

Today the site got its slides: a theme for reveal.js and a set of templates to start a deck from.

I’d had reveal.js in mind for a long time. I’ve always liked the idea of slides made in HTML: slides I can program to do all sorts of interesting things, and that I can host and share from my own site. Seeing how fast I can move with the workflow I’ve set up, and how solid the visual system already is, I told myself there was no reason not to start.

Before any code, I made four choices: a package of its own in the site’s repository, decks written as Astro components, a demo deck that only runs on my machine, and no transitions. Instead, cells build up from the corners of each slide, as in the illustrator. The theme takes its colours, type and spacing from the tokens generated from DESIGN.md, so a change to the design system reaches the slides too.

Twelve slides of the demo deck in the site’s style, cells growing from their corners: title, statement, a heading and a list, a quote, figures, steps, a comparison, cards, an image, an illustration, code and the closing slide.

I built a first version with nine templates: title, section, statement, text, quote, image, illustration, code and closing. Two rounds of review followed. The footer now holds the logo, the deck’s title and the slide’s number, with previous and next as two quiet buttons in the middle. Quotes moved to Handjet, as on the site. Lists took the look of the contents on long reads: one row per item, its number in a square that fills in cobalt when the item appears. Five templates closer to interface components joined them: figures, steps, a comparison, cards and a callout. Every deck switches between light and dark, and prints to PDF, one page per slide.

It’s done: after a few iterations, I have a slide template I can use as I please. Where decks will live on the site is still open.